Writer responds to Mooney's letter about Baltimore

Editor:

I would like to respond to Dave Mooney's recent letter to the Beacon regarding the Village of Baltimore, because it contained some generalizations and half-truths that deserve attention. First I want to make it clear that I have no affiliation with the Village of Baltimore - other than my residency - so I have no dog in this fight.

Mr. Mooney's claim that "Summers Choice is the most widely used street in the entire village during the summer season" was the first thing that jumped out at me. Would you care to release the results of the traffic study that you conducted to support this statement? Because based on what I've seen in my time as a Baltimore area resident, Market Street and Main Street both have considerably more traffic than Summers Choice, no matter what time of year it is - that is unless maybe you are including foot and bicycle traffic from the kids that frequent the pool. And I may be wrong on this, but I do not believe that Summers Choice is a dedicated street anyway. It is an access to the Baltimore Pool. Because it is an access (basically a driveway) it should be a lower priority than the actual streets of Baltimore.

I'm not really sure what your problem is with Mayor Kalish. I don't really know the guy, but from what I can tell, the meetings providing updates about what is going on in the village and the projects that he and other village administrators are working on aren't really hurting anyone, are they? It's not using your tax dollars, so why do you care? If you are really offended by these meetings, you are under no obligation to attend - that is, if you even have. (In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I have not attended any of these meetings, but I do read about them in the paper.)

As for the tornado siren, it may be true that a tornado has never hit Baltimore in the last 137 years, but that doesn't mean that one won't pass through in the future. Maybe you don't want that tornado siren because you live so close to it, I don't know. But just because you don't think it's necessary doesn't mean you speak for the entire village on whether or not it's needed.

And then you wrap up your letter by writing about the "politically rigged partisan clique" council. First of all, what does partisanship have to do with this council? Sure some of them run as a Republican or Democratic candidate, but tell me where village politics are on the Republican or Democratic agendas. Political parties have nothing to do with the actual running of a village government. Never mind the fact that some of the council members were elected as independents. But I'm sure you will say that's not the point. Your issue with council, according to the letter, is that they agree on everything and every motion is passed as though it were scripted. I guess you haven't been following the recent developments regarding the Village Tax Administrator then, have you? If you were paying attention, you would see that in recent months, council has been deadlocked on this issue, causing it to be dragged out much longer than it should have been. But that's another issue.

I read your letter, Mr. Mooney, and I kept thinking to myself, what is this guy's problem with the village. And then it clicked. Mr. Mooney, several months ago didn't you write a letter to the Beacon complaining that the Village was not going to pursue any plan of extending Elmwood Drive to Holder Road in Baltimore? You cited concerns for the accessibility of safety forces. But as I recall, what you didn't mention was how you would benefit by the extension of Elmwood Drive. The extension of the street would provide you with the road frontage needed to split off some residential lots from the 2.63 acres you own on Elmwood street, wouldn't it? Maybe I'm off the mark, but since you were so presumptuous in your letter about the Village of Baltimore, I will take the liberty of presuming that is why you are so upset with Baltimore. Their lack of attention to that plan may prevent you from financial gain. By the way, this information (your address and the property you own) was found on the County Auditor's website. It's funny what you can findout when you do a little research.

And finally, Mr. Mooney, I would like to ask you how many council meetings have you attended to express your concerns? I perused the council meeting minutes online for several meetings and never once saw your name listed amongst the visitors of the meetings. Maybe you have attended meetings, but never signed in. Regardless, if you don't like how council is conducting business, do something about it. And by that, I don't mean sit at home at your computer writing letters full of generalizations and half-truths to support your own crusade against village officials. If you don't like it, the way I see it, you have two options: 1) Run for council and see if you can make a difference; 2) move out of Baltimore.